Battle Creek, MI: Kellogg and Post Cereal Plants

Kellogg: (Satellite)

Post: (Satellite)

Viral Media posted two photos with the comment:

Kellogg Plant No.2

A photograph of the original factory at the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Co. in about 1910. W.K. Kellogg founded the company in 1906. The company used a process developed at the Battle Creek Sanitarium of soaking grain and then rolling and baking it to provide a thin, toasted flake that was marketed as a health alternative breakfast food. The Kellogg brothers, Will Keith and John Harvey, were Seventh-day Adventists from Battle Creek, Michigan.

Postcards – Willard Library, Battle Creek, MI

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Street View, Nov 2020

mibluemag
"Tour guides told the story of the Kellogg brothers. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg was the chief medical officer of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in the late 1880s. His brother, Will Keith Kellogg, worked alongside him. The brothers discovered, quite by accident, a process for making cereal flakes. In 1894, the brothers were unexpectantly called away while cooking wheat. When they returned, the wheat was overcooked. The brothers then forced the grains through rollers, flattening the wheat into thin flakes, and the first convenient breakfast cereal was born."
"In the first five years of the 1900s, Battle Creek was in the grip of a “cereal boom.” There were more than 40 companies manufacturing cereal products made from corn, wheat or oats. Kellogg became the most widely known and successful among these enterprises and still is headquartered in Battle Creek."

Viral Media posted three images with the comment:

Cereal City Memories

Postcards from early in the growth of Kellogg’s circa 1920. This cereal industry at this time received the grain raw materials and shipped finished goods by rail. The factory was located in between the mainline for Michigan Central and the Grand Trunk Western.

W. K. Kellogg launched the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company on February 19, 1906. W.K. convinced his brother Dr. Kellogg to relinquish rights to the product. Thus the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company in 1909 was born. The current name of the Kellogg Company was adapted in 1922. 

If you visit Battle Creek you can see the field where they demolished the factory. So much for historic preservation.

Photos - Willard Library, Battle Creek

Charles Geletzke Jr. shared 

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Viral Media posted three images with the comment:

Corn Flake Factory

Photos from early in the growth of Kellogg’s circa 1920. The cereal industry at this time received the raw materials and shipped finished goods by rail. The factory was located in between the mainline for Michigan Central and the Grand Trunk Western.

In 1876, John Harvey Kellogg and his brother, W. K. Kellogg worked at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. This is where corn flakes were created and led to the eventual formation of the Kellogg Company. W. K. Kellogg assisted his brother in research aimed at improving the vegetarian diet.

The lore of Corn Flakes is that John Kellogg left out a batch of wheat-berry dough overnight. Rather than throwing it out the next morning, he sent it through the rollers and was surprised to obtain delicate flakes, which could then be baked. W. K. Kellogg persuaded his brother to serve the food in flake form. The flaked wheat was being packaged for mail-order requests from guests after they left the Sanitarium. 

Dr. Kellogg ordered his brother Will to only sell the cereal to sanatorium customers. The brothers had a falling out and W. K. Kellogg launched the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company on February 19, 1906. W.K. convinced his brother to relinquish rights to the product. Thus the Kellogg Toasted Corn Flake Company in 1909 was born. The current name of the Kellogg Company was adapted in 1922. 

Photos - Willard Library, Battle Creek

Charles Geletzke Jr. shared

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Viral Media posted

Cereal Factory

In 1989, Kelloggs built the highly automated North Plant that is about the size of two football fields. The North Plant's first phase, cost about $160 million, began making cereal in 1989. The $200-million second phase went into production in mid-1990. The new cereal plant relies heavily on automated machinery from the early cooking and milling processes to the packaging of the finished product. Computers monitor production. Inside Building 100, Kellogg's "shred-line” family — Frosted Mini-Wheats, regular and bite size Nutra-Grain Biscuits and Raisin Squares - are being made. In mid-1990 the plant added rice and bran cereal lines.

The former Grand Trunk locomotive shops are just behind the Kellogg’s plant.  The Kellogg’s warehouse is in the upper right. A switch lead goes directly back to the Canadian National Battle Creek yard by the warehouse.

 

Viral Media posted

Cereal City Survivor

In 1989, Kelloggs built the highly automated North Plant that is about the size of two football fields. The North Plant's first phase, cost about $160 million, began making cereal in 1989. The $200-million second phase went into production in mid-1990. The new cereal plant relies heavily on automated machinery from the early cooking and milling processes to the packaging of the finished product. Computers monitor production. Inside Building 100, Kellogg's "shred-line” family — Frosted Mini-Wheats, regular and bite size Nutra-Grain Biscuits and Raisin Squares - are being made. In mid-1990 the plant added rice and bran cereal lines.

The switch lead goes to the former Michigan Central Hinman Yard now operated by Norfolk Southern. Behind the South Plant is the CN (former Grand Trunk) mainline. The field visible is the foreground is the remnants of the legacy 2.5 million square foot “South Plant” demolished in 2016. 

 

Viral Media posted

Cereal City

In the first decade of the 20th century, more than 40 different companies appeared and disappeared in Battle Creek, Michigan.  Many would-be entrepreneurs invested their life savings into starting cereal businesses. When the dust settled about 1910, there were only eight companies left. Out of all of those cereal companies, only two remain in Battle Creek: Post Consumer Brands and the Kellogg Co. 

Battle Creek is where C.W. Post and the Kellogg brothers are buried. Malitta Jensen and Mildred Day invented Rice Krispy Treats here.  Also, Vernon J. Herzing came up with Honey Bunches of Oats. When the wind blows from the direction of the Post factory, the city smells like Fruity Pebbles. Though the industry has faded, Battle Creek is still the historical Cereal City.

The photo is an excerpt from a postcard Kellogg’s gave out at their factory tours, showing an aerial view circa 1972.  The Michigan Central Detroit to Chicago mainline is in the foreground. The Grand Trunk Western mainline from Port Huron to Chicago is behind the plant. The GTW shops are visible in the upper right behind the plant.

This Kellogg factory was idled in 2011, and demolished in 2016. The “obsolete” cereal making equipment was quietly moved to a plant in Mexico. A small, highly automated plant is all that remains in Battle Creek, although there has been talk of closure of that facility as well. The headquarters is still in Battle Creek, but Kellogg has a fraction of the employees compared to it’s heyday. Kellogg trimmed at least 1,700 local jobs between 1996 and 1999, the majority of them in its manufacturing operations as well as some positions at its headquarters.

Kellogg's has manufacturing facilities in many countries, including:

• North America: Battle Creek, Michigan; Memphis, Tennessee; Omaha, Nebraska; Lancaster, Pennsylvania; London, Ontario; San Jose, California; New Haven, Connecticut; West Haven, Connecticut; Atlanta, Georgia; Mattoon, Illinois; Pikeville, Kentucky; Blue Anchor, New Jersey; West Seneca, New York 
• Europe: Bremen, Germany; Manchester, Great Britain; Wrexham, Great Britain 
• South Africa: Springs, South Africa 
• Turkey: Pendik, Istanbul 

[Google search results]

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Post Consumers Brands

I learned about the Post plant from some photos of the plant being switched near the Nichols Tower.

Street View, Aug 2019